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[Abd38] Abdin, M.Z., 1938Psychology of fetishism

In: Indian Journal of Psychology, Vol. 13, 1938, pp. 74-75

Abstract: "The author views all fetish objects as substitutes for the breast of the mother, and states that in normal cases the function of the fetish is to enhance the sexual excitement; it becomes a perversion only when procreation is not the aim and it takes the place of coitus for producing an orgasm." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "From a case analysis the author reports that in addition to the interpretation as a penis substitute, a fetish may be a vagina or womb substitute, or that it may signify feces, since it is an object of small or no value transformed into a love object of high value." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "A fetish object is always one of relatively slight intrinsic value which is given an exaggerated significance by reason of the personal complexes involved. Usually it is non-living, and most often is something which can either be worn or into which some part of the body can be put. These characteristics connect fetishism with kleptomania and transvestitism. In the former intrinsically worthless objects are imbued with great value, while in the latter the accent is placed on the urge to dress in the clothes of the opposite sex." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "The kissing of photographs, busts, or plaster casts of beloved persons, and the kissing of religious pictures and statues, may be called a sexual aberration, but not a perversion." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "A 33-year-old man was discovered rummaging through baby carriages outside a pediatrician's office. He explained that, in consequence of a spinal injury 18 years previously, he could attain orgasm only when touching children's underclothes or bed linen." (APA/PsycINFO) See also → Pan38.

Abstract: "Differentiation is made between compulsion neuroses and perversions, both of which arise from the pregenital phase but differ in that perversions are ego-acceptable. Perversions are more than a continuance of infantile sexuality, representing also regression and a complex developmental anomaly in response to life experiences such as fixations, disappointments, and incomplete repressions. Bisexualism plays a part both as a constitutional and as a psychic factor. Most important are Oedipus and castration complexes in the development of perversions. Analysis of homosexualism reveals that it serves as an associative force in repressing other and more ego-objectionable things, such as Oedipus and castration anxieties, with consequent libido displacement. Formulations derived from the study of homosexualism are applicable to the whole group of perversions. Fetishism, transvestitism, and exhibitionism are all forms of castration denial. Voyeurism is related to the primal scene. The constitutional element is probably an augmented erogenicity of specific zones. Prognosis and therapy are restricted by the ego-acceptableness of the perversion, but are better than generally assumed in homosexuals. In combination with neuroses prognosis is better." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "Friedjung dissents from the opinion of W. Stern that the psychoanalytic doctrine of the child's instinctive life is for the most part not the result of direct observation, but a 'backward projection of the experiences and instinctive attitudes of the adult.' He asserts, on the contrary, that in science, aside from the prediction of the hitherto unknown planet Neptune by Leverrier, there has been no greater example of genius than the enunciation of the doctrine of infantile sexuality by Freud in his Three Contributions to Sexual Theory, without a knowledge of childhood. As illustrations, he reports three of his own cases of pathological changes in the instinctive life of children: one, previously published, of a 16-months-old child with an underclothing fetishism; an 8-year-old flagellant; and a child of the same age with an anxiety neurosis." (APA/PsycINFO)

[Glo33] Glover, E., 1933The Relation of Perversion Formation to the Development of Reality Sense

Abstract: "The author defines reality-sense, reality-testing, and objectivity, and discusses as incomplete Ferenczi's, Federn's, and Klein's methods of investigating these concepts. Drug addiction analysis suggests possible reconstruction of the reality-sense from psychopathological data, because (1) drug addiction shows phases of regression which allow reassessment of reality, and (2) perversion-formation and fetishistic phenomena accompany addiction. Likewise, psychotic crises show transitory perversions as measures of preserving reality-sense. Sado-masochistic tendencies increase the reality-sense by allowing acceptance of part objects or fetish development through libidinization. Perversions show, parallel to the developmental order of psychic states, an orderly differentiation as regards object aim and completeness. They constitute protection against introjection and projection anxiety by means of excessive libidinization. This libidinization cancels or holds in suspense unreal fear systems. It is reinforced by repression. The original nucleus of infantile reality when extricated from the unreal reactions becomes the adult objective reality. Infantile anxiety reanimated in adult life gives rise to perversions which serve to patch over flaws in the development of the reality-sense. Probably the best perspective for reality-sense study is the meeting point of transitional psychoses, perversions, and obsessional neuroses." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "Hauke describes the fetish, theatrical and self-torturing types, some of the more unusual manifestations of the perversion, and (with illustrations) the commercial devices and arrangements for supplying the demand. Masochism is of criminological importance, as it is involved in obscence literature and pictures and some advertisements. It is also responsible for some unexplained deaths, when the body shows injuries and is chained in a peculiar position. A sadism, directed against the self, is also present in such cases." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "This is an extreme case of sexual perversion, appearing before the courts. The subject of the article, a man thirty-two years of age, was accused of filth-smearing by twenty-five women. His activities are interpreted in terms of sadism, according to the thesis of Krafft-Ebing to the effect that this psychopathological condition is indicated by an association between fetishism and besmirching the fetish. An analysis is given of the married life of the convicted man, demonstrating his absolute impotency in respect to all normal sexual relations." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "Confined to the study of deliberately induced erotic imagery in adults. Considers: general characteristics; etiology; psychoanalytic clinical characteristics (with special reference to relations of erotic fantasy to actual erotic behavior); classification of fantasies (sadistic, masochistic, exhibitionistic, scoptophilic, fetishistic, and homosexual); and their psychoanalytic mechanisms. From the point of view of diagnosis these fantasies are of great significance." (APA/PsycINFO)

[Hir32] Hirschfeld, Magnus, 1932Sexual Pathology. Being a Study of the Abnormalities of the Sexual Functions, An Exhaustive Treatise on Sexual Symbolism, Hypereroticism, Impotence, etc., Based Upon Research, Observations and Recent Clinical Data Gathered at the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin.

Abstract: "A report is given of two cases of fetishism analyzed by the authors, in which the analytic findings comply with the formula for transvestitism proposed by Fenichel. The fetishistic act signified an identification with a woman who kept her penis despite her masochistic role, both cases representing the penis in the manner Fenichel considers specific for transvestitism, although both patients were pure fetishists without a transvestitic component. In the one case the presence of the penis was emphasized by pressure against the body with the fetish; in the other, the fetish by attachment to the body became the penis, thus leading to a duplication serving for a vigorous denial of a deficiency. The authors conclude that Fenichel's formula concerning the denial of the penisless condition of the woman by a means of a reduplicated emphasis of her penis should not be confined to transvestitism, but should be extended to include cases of masochistic fetishism in which the person acts out on himself an identification with the woman, using an attribute of phallic significance." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "A case report of an otherwise exemplary family man who repeatedly stole pillows to use as fetishes. The etiology appeared to be a war-wound of the head, which caused attacks of intense headache. The activities were carried out during these attacks, compulsively in a state of clouded consciousness, and they relieved the pain. His previously normal sex life gradually declined." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "A patient with hereditary syphilis from the age of seven took great satisfaction in being stepped upon, especially when the foot was covered by a shoe which he particularly liked. At the age of puberty he had his first real orgasm when stepped upon by a young girl. Even after marriage, being stepped upon was his only source of sexual satisfaction for some time. After his wife suffered a nervous disorder, he followed the advice of his physician and was able to have normal sexual relations. However, after his wife died following a miscarriage, he reverted to his old fetishism." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "The rating of printing, photographs, and sculpture as 'artistic' or 'suggestive' is determined largely by subjective factors. The police of Dresden have a collection of confiscated material which includes a great mass of proscribed photographs, utensils, drawings, etc. The individuals who make use of such articles to arouse sex feelings are definitely psychopathic, in the same class with fetishists, voyeurs, or onanists. The author summarizes German law on the subject of such offenses against public morals." (APA/PsycINFO)

[Mei39a] Meixner, F., 1939Der Brillenräuber(The glasses thief)

In: Kriminalistik, Vol. 13, 1939, pp. 223-224

Language: German

Abstract: "A unique case of fetishism with sadistic elements. During the course of two years, a 40-year-old man repeatedly lay in wait at night on quiet streets for young women wearing glasses, which he would snatch off and carry away, if they were not broken. He would later throw them into the fire, or lay them on the street-car track, and was filled with satisfaction as he heard them ground under the wheels. He confessed that he was always especially drawn to women wearing glasses, but if they were indifferent to him he became sexually excited and felt impelled to tear off their glasses, which act relieved the tension. All the members of his family, both men and women, wore glasses." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "This is a study of inversion, exhibitionism, and fetishism. For each perversion there are two kinds of perverts: those who are stable in their perversion and do not suffer, and the neurotics who do not accept their perversion and who have more or less conscious remorse. It is in the latter case that psychoanalytic treatment is possible." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "There was no sign of a previous organic injury to the spinal cord, and in fact, the history and symptomatology made it doubtful that one had ever been present. The case is one of fetishism of a rare but not unknown variety. The connection is not worked out." (APA/PsycINFO)

[Par34] Parry, Albert, 1934Tatooing Among Prostitutes and Perverts

In: Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Vol. 3, 1934, pp. 476-482

[Pay39] Payne, S.M., 1939Some Observations on the Ego-Development of the Fetishist

Abstract: "In this study, based upon the analysis of two cases of fetishism and observations on a third, the author undertakes to show 'that the necessity to make a defense against an archaic sexual aim is one of the determinants of fetishism - the aim being to kill the love object; to describe the type of situation in which the fixation of this sexual aim occurs; and to make some observations on the form of ego development which accompanies the adoption of this abnormal sexual behavior. Detailed material is cited from one of the case histories to illustrate these various points, and the author concludes 'that the psychology of the fetishist is dominated by castration fear,' and that this fear may be traced 'to infantile situations connected with unusual tension of the aggressive impulses inseparably bound up with sexuality.'" (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "The author divides his study according to the sources furnished by literature. (1) History gives the discipline and penitence practices of religious flagellation from the time of its introduction into monastic life to its systematization in the flagellant movement, which is characterized by the idea of penitence and which still has adherents. (2) Flagellantism as a literary and social subject or profane flagellation is represented by numerous works in anecdotal vein. They mark out the history of whipping since its utilization as an instrument of discipline and education, and after having been an instrument of penitence, until its degeneration into a means of sexual perversion and its use even in the present time. (3) The medical analysis of flagellantism by Freud, Stekel and Sadger has shown clearly its relations with sadism and masochism, with a foundation of psycho-sexual infantilism with leanings toward fetishism. But it is necessary to guard against exaggeration. Although the psychoanalytic theories clearly explain profane flagellation, religious flagellation, apart from the scandalous abuse which it encounters in every religion, is dependent on a feeling of contrition and penitence which we no longer recognize today and which, in consequence, we are incapable of understanding. The author gives as an illustration a personal observation of an individual who showed a phase of profane masochistic flagellation followed by a phase of religious flagellation characterized by penitence." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "This is a description of a case of sex pathology in a feeble-minded, epileptic man, showing itself in fetishistic and sadistic tendencies combined. Sex satisfaction was obtained mainly through gaining entrance to first-floor bedrooms and cutting up, soiling, and wetting white bedspreads, which had a fetishistic value for this man. He was adjudged irresponsible for his acts but dangerous, and confined in an institution. Schuppe reports the case because he finds this sort of combination of fetishistic and sadistic tendencies apparently rare." (APA/PsycINFO)

[Ste30] Stekel, Wilhelm, 1930Sexual Aberrations: The Phenomena of Fetishism in Relation to Sex.

Publisher: Liveright, Oxford

Notes: 2 vols, 369 and 355 pp. "Authorized English Version from the First German Edition by Dr. S. Parker".

Abstract: "Fetishism resolves itself into a kind of compulsion neurosis, and its psychic structure can be understood only as such. Erotic symbolism expresses this constraint in its choice of a fetish, which is the manifest and visible symbol of the compulsion. The choice is presumably determined by emotional displacement or conditioning. There is usually present a tendency to construct a series of fetishes, to collect a "harem." The fetish replaces the sexual partner, and thus makes possible a retreat from active heterosexual relationship. The male fetishist either flees from or depreciates the female; the female either is anesthetic with men or avoids coitus entirely. The fetishist suffers from a form of psycho-sexual infantilism. This infantilism is expressed in onanistic phantasies, in vagrancy, kleptomania, or exhibitionism. There is also an invariable criminal component present. Fetishism seems to be a paraphilia, but it is really a religion, a cult; the patient forces fetishism upon himself out of motives of atonement. In a practice including 30-35% Jews, Stekel has seen only one fetishist who is not a Christian. This one Jew was not circumcised, and showed a distinct leaning toward the Christian religion. This fact suggests two possible explanations of fetishism. The physical explanation would associate the phimosis present in nearly every case with the feeling of compulsion essential to the development of fetishism. On the other hand, the connection may lie in the psychic field, in the "Christ ideal" of asceticism and martyrdom. The author believes that the symbolism of fetishism can be interpreted and cleared up only by a deep psychoanalysis. The major portion of the work consists of detailed, complete reports of a few successful analyses." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "A description of transvestism and flagellation in a middle-aged professor, well-known in his specialty, happily married, and a paterfamilias. The transvestism began as a corset fetishism in youth, then receded, to re-appear in more extensive, extravagant, and fantastic forms in middle age, when it was combined with flagellation and marked narcissism. The masochism was traced to his boyhood enjoyment of stories of South Sea islanders' submission to tattooing. He wrote numberless stories, poems, etc., on fantasies of the transvestite and masochistic-fetishistic world, some of which were published. The case is interesting for the variety of perversions and also because it appears to show that in their beginnings these can be abreacted, if not abolished, by a satisfactory marriage." (APA/PsycINFO)

Abstract: "Through the use of clothes the sexual drive is more and more displaced from the genitals to the secondary sex characteristics. Thus a 'physiological' fetishism arises which leads without sharp limits into the realm of pathological fetishism." (APA/PsycINFO)